My dog shies away from just about any instrument the first time he hears it, investigates it, and then ignores it. Most recently a jaw harp... the only one he predictably objects to is trombone. He regularly sleeps through recorders, krummhorns, shawms, and hurdy-gurdy.
A previous dog was great as a tuning meter. She'd sleep in the middle of the room while we played, and twitch like something was irritating her in her sleep if we weren't in pretty good tune. It was a much easier visual check than everyone looking at a meter. :-) On the Generation D tinwhistle... how old is it? 15 years or so ago I really disliked the sound of their tabor pipes (same fipple/mouthpiece as the tinwhistle), but they seemed to have changed when I heard them at a pipe and tabor festival in 2001. I speculate that Generation altered their fipple molds sometime between when I first heard them, and that festival. -- Dennis Sherman Chicago, IL, USA
